County of house: Daviess County
Location of house: W. Van Buren St. & S. Daviess St., Gallatin
Built: 1896
Architect: George Tuggle
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
The Person:
Addison Taylor Ray:
Born: 11 Apr 1850 - Roanoke County, Virginia, USA
Died: 7 Dec 1937 (aged 87) - Gallatin, Daviess County, Missouri, USA
"The house was constructed by Mr. and Mrs. A. Taylor Ray, prominent members of the First Baptist Church of Gallatin, with a family member, George Tuggle, acting as architect. The Rays were both teachers and are noted for their generous financial gifts to their church and to William Jewel! College, near Kansas City, Missouri. In addition, their gifts to benefit the children of the poor of Gallatin are well remembered. ~ NRHP Nomination Form
The Place:
"The A. Taylor Ray House, 212 West Van Buren, Gallatin, Missouri is a two story exposed frame house with clapboard and imbricated surface treatment, painted white with dark green trim and constructed in the Queen Anne Revival style. This house, which features a full, unfinished attic and basement, sits on a foundation of coursed, rough-cut native limestone and is capped by pyramid, gable, hip, shed and mansard roofs which are covered with green asphalt shingles. Measuring 38' from east to west by 67' from north to south, this substantial home is located on a double corner lot in a residential area of the small town of Gallatin, Missouri just two blocks southwest of the town's main business district. Notable exterior design features include the octagonal tower to the northwest, the spindle, treillage, pendant and bentwood ornament of the encircling veranda to the northeast and the second floor perches to the north and east and the many examples of applied jig-saw floral motives in gables and other
areas. Heavy incised brackets on the north and west sides and cornice level moldings enriched with anthemion and acanthus motives on the east and west sides complete the exterior enrichment. Inside,- this house features curved window glass in its curving western bay, many elaborately carved mahogany, oak and walnut chimney pieces of classical inspiration with fancifully decorated cast iron grates, and double sliding oak doors dividing the main first floor areas. Other features include the carved oak central staircase enriched with spindles, decorative newels and surmounted by a spindled treillage
on the second floor and the many substantial carved entryways with transoms.
" The A. Taylor Ray House is significant as the finest example of the free classic mode of the Queen Anne Revival in the town of Gallatin, Missouri. Moreover, it holds additional significance as the former home of the Ray and Tuggle families, both prominent in local and state affairs and government.
The free classic mode has been designated by Marcus Whiffen as the second phase of the Queen Anne Revival style, succeeding the Shavian Memorial phase of this style. Because the Shingle Style, a progressive movement which : developed from the Queen Anne Revival, attracted many trained architects who might have been drawn to the Queen Anne Revival in the late nineteenth century, the free classic mode became an often unorthodox, often exhuberant development of less
philosophically disciplined designers and builders. In the A. Taylor Ray House this exhuberance is seen in several details. The most notable of these are the anthemion relief on the cavetto molding above the curving bay on the west, the acanthus molding relief on the cavetto molding above the tripartite bay to the east, the carved sunburst in the gable of the primary façade, the distinctive woodwork of the encircling veranda and the rich interior carving and iron work." ~ National Register Nomination Form